 

Toys 

 

Pre-Workshop Information 

 

Outline: 

 

Incorporating both history and science this session lets your pupils enjoy a range of toys in small 
groups. It encourages children to think about the lives of people in Wandsworth today and the lives 
of people in the past, including older people in their own family. The session is designed to develop 
your pupils understanding of the concept of old and new materials / technologies. Pupils will be 
shown the way in which toys reflect the technology of their time and are influenced by different 
cultures. The session will also focus on science topics such as force and energy. 

 

Programme Duration: 1.15 hours 

 

 

Links with Units of Study: 

 

This session has been developed in support of Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 areas within the 
English, History, and Science topics: 

. NC Areas FS: Communication, Language and Literacy, Knowledge and Understanding of 
the World 


NC Areas Key Stage One: History, English, & Science 

. QCA History Units: How are our toys different from those in the past? 
. QCA Science Units: Sorting and using materials, Unit 1E. Pushes and Pulls, Forces and 
movement, Characteristics of materials, Forces in action 


 

NB: With prior notice this session can be adapted to reflect one of the above units of study more 
heavily than the others to make the session as relevant as possible. Please contact us if you think 
we could relate this session to other elements that your pupils are studying in school. 

 

 

Aims and Learning Objectives: 

 

The session will provide children with the opportunities to: 

 

. find out more about life in the past using handling artefacts 
. describe toys from the past and other places by identifying characteristics 
. use their speaking and listening skills and practice their ability to share and take turns 
. develop their understanding of the passing of time, materials and movement 
. develop their vocabulary relating to the passing of time, materials and movement 
. investigate toys with their peers and play independently and in small groups 
. communicate what they know about toys they see today and toys they dont 





What we expect: 

 

. Children will enjoy learning about toys that have been played with in the past in this 
borough and in other places. 
. Children will have increased awareness that people can and do make toys from 
everyday items. 
. Whilst museum education staff will run the session, support in the workshop is 
required in order to minimise the risks involved with the session items, ensure 
appropriate behaviour and that artefacts are handled thoughtfully. 


 

 

 

 

 


Toys 

 

Pre-Workshop Activity Suggestions 

 

 

 

Science 

 

. Ask children to bring in a toy from home and describe the materials it is made from and 
how it works. 
. Set up a display of toys made from different materials and ask the children to sort the 
toys (or images of the toys) into categories based on materials. 


 

Literacy/History 

 

. Ask children to ask/interview people in their families about what they played with when 
they were little. 
. Show old and new toys of a similar type, e.g. two bears, two trains. Ask the children to 
talk about what is the same and what is different. Draw their attention to design, 
materials and how the toys move, as well as to what the toys look like and ask them to 
describe the elements through written work. 
. Look at toys from other countries and find out why they are sometimes different to toys 
we have here and sometimes the same. 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Toys 

 

Post Workshop Resource Pack 

 

We very much hope you enjoyed the workshop and we would be very grateful to hear your views on 
this or other elements of the educational services of the museum. If you have any comments or 
concerns that have not been addressed in our evaluation, please contact us at 
educator@wandsworthmuseum.co.uk. 

 

 C:\Users\Educator\Desktop\DSCF0690 medium.jpg


 

This resource pack is designed to support you and your pupils after participation in the Toys 
workshop and includes more details about some of the toys featured in the workshop. Wherever 
possible we have tried to keep information relevant to the local area. 

 

Please note: If you have downloaded this pack and you have not yet participated in the workshop, 
please do not reveal the content to the participants as this will lessen the impact of the museum 
workshop. 

 

Please feel free to contact us should you have any further enquiries about the content or the wider 
content of this topic. 


Puppets 

 

 

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Puppets are popular throughout the world and some 
countries have long traditions of making puppets. Their 
origins are impossible to trace but in many places in 
Asia they still have important roles within cultural 
practices. 

 

 

 

This puppet is a Balinese rod puppet and has moveable 
head and arms. The costume is made of a traditional 
batik material and the head is made of painted wood. 
Shadow puppets are also incredibly important within 
Balinese culture, where the word theatre (Wayang) is 
the same word as Shadow. 

 

 

 

 

Dolls Houses 

 

The first known dolls house was made in Germany in 1558. It was not a 
childrens toy but a displayed curiosity. It appears that dolls houses began 
being produced as toys around the 1700s. 

 

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This doll's house was made by Richard Robinson of Southfields for his 
daughter, Pat, who was born in 1947. The house, dolls and furniture are 
almost entirely home-made and you can see this dolls house on display in 
the museum. The walls of the house are constructed from matchboxes 
covered with brick-patterned paper. The picture on the right is of Pat and 
her Grandmother in 1951. (Donated by Mrs Robinson) 


 

Zoetrope 

 

Optical games and toys are some of the oldest around. Shadow puppets 
for example have probably been around since pre-history. More 
sophisticated optical toys developed around the same time as the 
exploration of vision and illusion in the Nineteenth Century. 

 

 

C:\Users\Educator\Desktop\110_FUJI\DSCF0164 small.jpg 


 

The Zoetrope featured relatively early in the 
development of optical toys and was 
developed in 1834. It uses a series of images 
reflected in the mirrors to give the illusion of 
movement when spun. 

 

 

 

 

 

Spinning Top 

 

A spinning top is very similar to the finger top 
and whip and top but is powered by the pull 
of string spun around a central rod. Although 
rather fiddly to set up the spinning top can 
generally stay in motion longer than a whip 
and top and can be encouraged to 
continue to spin by winding the thread 
around the base of the top while in motion. 

toys0004 


 

Jacobs Ladder 

 

It is thought that a form of the toy 
Jacobs Ladder has been played with 
for many centuries. There is also the 
argument that Jacobs Ladder was an 
acceptable form of amusement on 
Sunday when all other forms of work 
and play were prohibited. The toy is 
made from a series of wooden blocks, held together by either paper or 
fabric and is said to be named after Jacob from the Old Testament. 

C:\Users\Educator\Desktop\110_FUJI\DSCF0162 small.jpg 



Table Skittles 

 

 

toys0016_r1 


Table Skittles is thought to have been a 
popular game in Tudor Britain although it is 
likely to have been a miniature version of full 
size skittles. It is very similar to a game called 
Devil Amongst the Tailors and both were 
probably developed for use by adults in a 
space like a tavern that did not have enough 
space to offer full sized skittles. It is therefore fair 
to assume that Table Skittles was sometimes 
used for gambling. 

 

 

 

Cup and Ball 

 

 

toys0012
This was a favourite toy of many Victorian 
children although it was incredibly popular in 
the 16th Century. In concept it looks very easy 
to play but in reality can be extremely difficult 
and frustrating. 

 

 

 

Quoits 

 

 

toys0002_r1 


 

 

Quoits was a versatile game that has been 
played for many centuries, although we 
cannot be certain of its origins. It became 
popular in the 1800s and was considered a 
game suitable for ladies as well as gentlemen. 
It could be played outside or inside and could 
easily be replicated by poorer families. 

 

 

 

 


 

Dolls 

 

Dolls have probably always been made by children and adults but we 
know they became quite detailed during the 1800s. During this time dolls 
would probably have been sold unclothed and then had a wardrobe of 
outfits made separately, sometimes by a professional dolls dressmaker but 
more commonly by the owners family members. 

 

 

This is six year old Maria Lekan-Ashimi with 
the Zadi Doll. The Zadi Doll was made by 
Wandsworth residents Zadi Wilkins and Sally 
Smith in 1986. Zadi Wilkins moved to Britain 
from Jamaica in 1959 and made the Zadi 
doll because she felt there werent 
commercially produced dolls suitable for 
her children. 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Toys 

 

Post Workshop Activity Suggestions 

 

 

 

Below are some suggested classroom activities to assist in extending the learning in this session. 
Please find attached the related worksheets. 

 

Literacy/DT 

 

. Making toys from everyday objects 

Ask children to think about things they play with that are not made as toys, e.g., floating 
twigs, conkers, hand puppets. You can look at toys used in the past and in other 
countries that relate to this: spindle, skipping rope, football made from carrier bags. An 
associated discussion can highlight issues of poverty and wealth and childrens learning 
through play. Children could decorate their own wooden spoons, lolly pop puppets; they 
could create shadow puppets and their own show. And of course, make things out of 
recycled packaging. 

 

Art 

 

. Design and make your own Thaumatrope 


Follow the instructions in the attached worksheet 

 

Literacy 

 

. Ask the children to think about the sort of toys they would have had if they had been a child 
in 1911. What sort of games mite they have played with their friends out on their street or in 
a garden. Discuss ideas as a class and then ask each child to write a story about a day in 
the life of a child in 1911, what games would they have played and what other activitys 
would have they been doing such as attending school, working, helping around the house. 
Ask them to think about what would the difference have been between poor children and 
those from wealthy familys? 
. Choose an old toy and create a story about its life. What period of history is it from? Who did 
it belong to? What kind of household would have had a toy like this? What other toys mite 
have been around? Who would this toy have belonged to? Can you make a class book 
about it? 


 

Literacy/Art 

 

. Draw a picture of a modern day toy can you write what it is made out off? Can you use 
adjectives to describe what it was made out off? Do the same for an old fashioned toy. 


 

 

 


DT/Science 

 

. Design a toy; draw your design of a toy, list the materials and tools you will need to make it, 
now make your toy. Once you have made it evaluate your design, what worked well and 
what would you do differently next time? 
. Make your own shadow puppets, use different materials to make them (translucent, 
transparent and opaque). What difference does it make to the shadow? Does it make any 
difference how close the puppet is to the light source? Does the distance change the 
shadow? 
. How can toys move without electricity? Investigate the movement of different toys, for 
example pushes and pulls, clockwork toys and those that use elastic. 


 

Knowledge and Understanding of the World/ Global Citizenship 

 

. Provide the children with a template of a doll, using pens or collage can they create a doll 
wearing the national dress of different countrys? Now label the doll to describe the costume 
and the country where these garments would be worn. 
. Print out pictures of old and new toys. Ask the children to cut them out and divide them into 
modern day toys and old fashioned toys. They could now stick them into a toy box that they 
have drawn or that have been provided as a template. 


 

History 

. Using a range of toys or pictures of toys, can the children create a timeline of when they 
would have been used? Now add museum labels to the toys that the children create. Can 
they add some major historical events to the timeline? 


 

 

Further Resources: 

 

. The Museum of Childhoods website has details about the kinds of toys from different time 
periods: http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/collections/index.html 


 

. A History of Toys, by Antonia Frazer. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 


 

. The Learning Resource Centre 


The Professional Centre 

Franciscan Road, London, SW17 8HE 

Tel: 020 8871 8781 

 

 


 

Toys  Worksheet 1 

 

Make your own Thaumatrope 

 

Thaumotrope was one of the first optical toys (developed in 1826) and can be made quickly and 
simply. 

 

Photocopy the template on the following sheet onto thick paper or card. 

 

Instructions 

 

1. Choose one pair of circles and colour the pictures in 
2. Cut around the circles 
3. Using a sharp pencil make 2 holes in each side of each circle 
4. Glue the two single circles back to back with the holes in the same places (pictures opposite 
ends up) 
5. Tie string in each of the holes 


 

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6. Hold the string in each hand and twist the string between your fingers. When the string 
unwinds you will see both images appear to become one. 


 

 

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Remember....you can make your own designs. Try it out! 

 


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